The Meaning of Transformations and Transformations of Meaning: Changes in the Meaning of Activity at the Biographical Scale

Abstract

This article focuses on the way in which transformations of the meaning of activity among CEOs of companies of the social economy movements (cooperatives, mutual societies, associations and foundations), are structured by the significant events experienced throughout their professional history. Five elements structuring the transformations of meaning are presented: the temporal dimension; emotions; the recognition of a change by the subject himself; the statement of principles of action associated with transformations and the interweaving of individual and collective dimensions. Moreover, the diachronic reading of the transformations makes it possible to identify the meaning or direction attributed by the leaders to their own paths. These results, obtained through qualitative research by the narrative analysis (Labov) of the accounts produced by thirteen CEOs during non-directive interviews, characterize the transformations of meaning and subsequently the process of construction and reconstruction from a diachronic perspective.